How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods by Freymann, Joost Elffers

From the Publisher

Brief text and color photographs of carvings made from vegetables introduce the world of emotions by presenting leading questions such as "Are you feeling angry?"

Publishers Weekly

Photos of scowling oranges and gregarious scallions garnish this garden of delights from the creators of Play with Your Food. The recipe is simple and successful. Freymann and Elffers find a piece of "expressive produce" and attach two black-eyed peas for eyes. Without further ado, the veggie becomes a face, with a knobby stem or skinny root for a schnozzola; an upended mushroom has a hilarious piglike snout, while a kiwi fruit has a button nose. The animated groceries are exhibited, actual size or larger, against crisp hues of harvest gold, melon green or late-night-sky blue. Their groupings imply close relationships: lemons trade meaningful glances and a little onion cries. Meanwhile, the rhyming text draws comparisons between the emotive plants and its audience when it queries, "Wired? Tired? Need a kiss?/ Do you know anyone like this?" The plotless and largely superfluous narrative recommends expressing jealousy or affection ("When how you feel is understood,/ you have a friend, and that feels good"). It's a sentiment as healthy as an apple a day, but the book's real charm is derived from the almost-ready-made "sculptures"--as an afterword calls them. This wish-I'd-thought-of-that compendium provides an excellent impetus for a craft session: the ingredients are cheap, and mistakes can be eaten as salad (if artists have the heart). All ages. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Once you have seen their work, you will remember it. Fruits and vegetables are given faces with very real expressions. It is truly amazing the range of emotions these photographs of misshapen, carved and manipulated food stuffs can have. The object of this collection is to open up dialogue about what it feels like to be bullied, loved and befriended. And what would elicit a response more readily than a large winter squash glaring at a troop of quivering radishes. This artwork is truly unique and the feelings all appropriate for discussion.

Children's Literature

Oranges smile shyly, onions growl, turnips show surprise, mushrooms are sad until turnips tickle their caps. No, I'm not crazy; I've just romped my way through How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods. Fruits and vegetables will never be the same once you experience this unique book. Black-eyed peas are used for eyes, if mouths need to be colored, beet juice is used. Teeth are cut from the pith of the fruit or else the mouth is hollowed out. Twist and turn your vegetables around and you'll discover they have built-in noses or chins. Crazy shaped turnips that I'd never buy, now become the source of fun faces to decorate my dining table. Since the foods have no ethnicity and are neither male nor female, they allow children to talk about feelings and moods openly. Skip the psychologist, just buy the book.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-An eye-catching and enormously appealing book. Freymann and Elffers frequented New York's fruit and vegetable markets, picking out particularly "expressive" onions, peppers, oranges, apples, and the like. They then created intriguing faces on the produce, taking advantage of stems and creases, carving mouths, and adding black-eyed peas for eyes. The sculptures were then photographed on solid-colored backgrounds. The "faces" clearly show an array of emotions, from excitement and happiness to frustration and confusion. Accompanied by simple rhymes ("When you have to wait, because someone is late,/are you bored? Jumpy? Worried? Grumpy?/Excited as the minutes pass?/Now your friend is here at last!"), the attractive photographs burst with color. Use this book to discuss different moods, to introduce the names of many fruits and vegetables, to identify colors, and to inspire young artists to create sculptures of their own.-Anne Knickerbocker, Cedar Brook Elementary School, Houston, TX Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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